Down the Rabbit Hole
by lozzy161
Summary: Not your average girl-falls-into-Middle-Earth story. Follow Elle as her first-world problems turn into real, life-threatening problems in a semi-realistic Middle Earth story. Not a Mary-sue, not a 10th walker.
1. Prologue

"Down the rabbit hole", a metaphor for an entry into the unknown, the disorienting or the mentally deranging.

* * *

 **Prologue**

Elle squeezed her eyes shut.

"One," she counted.

A shiver cascaded down her body followed by the appearance of a million goose bumps.

"Two," she continued in a calm manner.

The cold pressed in around her.

"Three," she finished.

With a silent prayer to a god she didn't believe in, Elle slowly opened her eyes again.

They were still there, freakishly large and imposing, surrounding her for miles. Elle stared at the ancient, gnarled trees that had suddenly appeared before her. She slowly turned her head towards the thick canopy high above. It was so thick that the sun's rays didn't reach the ground leaving everything perpetually dark and cold.

No thoughts crossed her mind as she then turned her head towards the ground beneath her feet. Cold, hard dirt. Scarcely any greenery to be found. Through her leather boots, Elle could feel the sun-starved ground leeching the heat from her body.

Another shiver.

"Fuck," she whispered in wide-eyed disbelief.

Crouching down, Elle ran her hand across the hard ground beneath her. The top layer of dirt came loose leaving imprints of her hand upon the ground. With a shaky hand Elle picked up a handful of dirt. She examined it with a keen eye. The dirt looked just like ordinary dirt that you'd find in your backyard. It was real. It was most definitely not the carpet she was standing on 3 minutes prior.

Slightly panicked now, Elle let the dirt fall through her fingers. She stared unseeingly at the residual dirt that had stuck between the creases on her hand.

"This should be carpet," she whispered in denial. "Plush, creamy carpet."

Shifting slightly so that she was kneeling instead of crouching, Elle placed her hands back on the ground as if to feel the carpet from her memory. She started to swipe at the dirt before her, digging in a desperate attempt to find her carpet beneath. Her hands moved faster and faster until she was digging in a panicked frenzy, not feeling the small rocks within the dirt rip into her hands or her nails break in her fervour. Tears began to cloud her vision as her search for the carpet she has been standing on failed. Her breaths came in shallow, shaky puffs and she could feel her heart beating forcefully against the inside of her chest.

Elle wiped away her tears away leaving dirty and bloody streaks in their wake.

With a strangled cry, Elle leapt up and staggered over to the nearest tree. It was so large that her arm-span wouldn't have been able to surround half of the trunk. She ran her dirty, scratched hands over the rough bark. It was as real as the dirt beneath her feet.

In that instant Elle's mind seemed to fracture, she couldn't comprehend that one moment she was standing in the middle of her bedroom and the next she was stranded in the middle of a seemingly ancient forest.

With a near-animalistic shriek of fear and denial, Elle pushed herself away from the tree and ran. She couldn't see for all her tears, all she saw were blurry smudges of tree trunks in her vision, but she ran. She wanted out of this forest. Her legs moved without her brain telling them. She ran faster and longer than she had ever run before, tripping over tree roots and rocks.

Elle ran until she could run no more. She collapsed on the cold ground with the taste of blood in her mouth and her whole body feeling as though it were on fire. Her lungs ached for oxygen and she took great gasps of air in between wretched sobs.

The forest went from dark to darker and back again and Elle didn't move. She was unaware of the passage of time. For her each minute stretched into eternity and eternity was condensed into a single minute. She became unaware of her cold and achy body. She didn't feel the hard, uncomfortable ground beneath her nor see the ancient trees stretching into the sky of many leaves. As time passed her tears dried upon her face and her heart slowed to a steady rhythm. Her green eyes stared unseeingly ahead into the distance. Elle's mind was blank, empty, and numb.

Eventually her exhaustion won out and Elle was pulled into a deep and dreamless sleep.

* * *

When Elle woke, it was not to the empty numbness that she felt before she slept, it was to a cacophony of swirling thoughts in her head and aches in her body. The thoughts didn't seem to be hers but they whirled so fast around her mind that she couldn't grasp their meanings.

Her mouth was so parched that she could barely produce any saliva.

 _Thirsty,_ one thought.

A loud grumble erupted from her stomach.

 _Hungry,_ another thought.

Once Elle had identified those two thoughts they seemed to multiply exponentially within her mind until they had drowned everything else out.

She blinked, unsure of what to do. Her mind was sluggish.

 _Thirsty, hungry, thirsty, hungry._

She blinked again.

 _Thirsty, hungry. Hungry. Thirsty._

Elle figured she needed to find some food and water.

With a groan she made a move to sit up. Her whole body ached in protest with the slight movement. All of the injuries she was numb to before now made themselves known from the small scratches on her hands to the large bruises on her knees that she had received from tripping over tree roots. The worst was her muscles, pushed to shear exhaustion through running, every tiny movement was agony.

Giving up, Elle lay back down resting her head on the cold dirt.

 _Thirsty, hungry, thirsty, hungry, thirsty, hungry, thirsty, hungry._

The thoughts weren't giving up.

"No," Elle groaned in protest to the thoughts.

 _Thirsty, hungry, thirsty, hungry, thirsty, hungry, thirsty, hungry._

"Ugh, ok. Fine," Elle muttered in defeat.

With a deep breath she gritted her teeth and slowly but surely rose to her feet. Elle's muscles shook under the exertion of standing. Step after small step and Elle stumbled her way across the forest floor with an intent on finding food. All the while her mind was consumed with thoughts of being hungry and thirsty.

The ground was home to a scarce amount of tough vegetation that was unfit for human consumption. The giant, gnarled trees bore no fruit and there was not an animal in sight. Elle trudged onward and pushed through her pain searching for anything that could be consumed.

As step after step brought Elle no closer to any source of food or water, she began to become disheartened.

"I can't keep this up much more," she moaned to herself as she leant against a tree to rest.

 _Thirsty, hungry, thirsty, hungry._

"Ok ok, relax," Elle whined as she started walking again.

As Elle walked, the scenery did not change, each tree looked identical to the one before it and Elle lost all sense of time and distance. She felt as though she had been walking for an age but had not travelled more than 100 metres in any direction. It was as though she was trapped in a bubble. The more she walked the harder it was to walk, her vision began to lose focus, and her senses dulled like she was seeing the world through a glass cage.

After hours of stumbling through the forest with no change, Elle began to give up. She hobbled over to a large root and fell down onto it. Her tired and sore legs were grateful for the reprieve. Feeling desolate and hopeless she hung her head in her hands just wishing for a way out of this nightmare. Not even the mantra of _hungry_ and _thirsty_ in her head would incite her to continue on.

"Just a bit further," came a whisper through the trees.

Elle snapped her head up not quite believing what she had heard, a woman's voice so soft and sweet. Someone else was in the forest! Ignoring her protesting body she stood up once more and stumbled in the direction the voice had come from.

"Closer," came the voice, louder now.

Elle sped up, pushing her body harder. She stumbled over the flat ground as well as the roots, landing on her already bruised knees, but she didn't care, she had to follow the voice.

So intent on following the voice, Elle didn't notice the ground beneath her feet has turned into patchy grass with smaller undergrowth cropping up between the trees. She didn't notice the slight rustling of branches as small animals fled from her approach nor the streams of warm sunlight breaking through the thinning canopy above.

It was only when she burst out of the trees into a small clearing did Elle come to realise that the forest had changed. The biggest and most welcome change was the sound and sight of a small stream flowing through the far side of the clearing.

With a silent prayer of thanks, Elle dashed over to the stream. The water was heavenly to her parched throat and she gulped down mouthfuls in relief. Though she knew it wouldn't be for long, the water had somewhat staved off her hunger. Elle sat back feeling a different relief altogether as the mantra in her head had stopped. Her mind was once again silent.

Her previous train of thought diverted by the appearance of the stream, Elle had forgotten about the voice that lead her there.

Thirst taken care of, Elle set about looking for something to eat. With a clear head she was able to get her wits about her and began to follow the stream. Her hope was to forage some type of food growing along its banks.

It wasn't long until Elle found some mushrooms growing along the base of some of the trees near the stream. They were a flat, pale mushroom that grew in clusters. Elle had no idea if they were edible or not and was wary about eating them in case they were poisonous. She ended up picking as many as she could fit into her jacket pocket as a last resort and set back off down the stream.

With her hunger returning with a vengeance, Elle hastened her search for food. It was starting to get darker beneath the canopy and she knew that there was no way she'd be able to find food in the dark.

Elle was out of luck. It became too dark to search for food and the only thing she had found were those mushrooms from earlier. Disheartened, she found a nook in a nearby tree and sat down within it. She'd reached the point in her hunger where she just felt sick and knew she needed to eat something soon.

As it got darker it got colder and Elle was only wearing a leather jacket which provided little comfort. She wrapped her arms around her knees and tried to retain her body heat as much as she could. Now that she was sitting she became aware of all the sounds of the forest. Every snap of a twig or animal call gave her a start and set her on edge. Despite how tired she was, she'd be getting no sleep.

Waiting out the night gave Elle's mind time to wander. Questions of "how", "why" and "where", occupied her thoughts, they burned their way into her mind and she felt she could almost see the words superimposed over her vision. Feeling another panic attack coming on Elle pushed those thoughts aside as best as she could, she couldn't afford another break down if she wanted to survive this nightmare.

* * *

 _Hungry._

Elle jumped awake, she must have dozed off during the night.

 _Hungry._

It was back. Elle groaned. She didn't need an intrusive thought telling her that she was hungry, she could feel her hunger pains clearly. Her body felt weak from lack of food. It felt like days since she had last eaten. Elle was keenly aware of the mushrooms bulging from her jacket pocket and wondering should she just risk it.

Elle drank from the stream in hopes of pushing the hunger back and decided that if she hadn't found any food by midday then she'd eat the mushrooms.

She set off, once again, down the stream with her body still in agony.

As she walked, Elle notice that the canopy above seemed to be getting thinner, more sunlight was streaming through the gaps. The sun's rays were warm and welcoming against Elle's skin and she smiled for the first time since arriving in this nightmare.

 _Hungry, hungry._

Elle's smile fell from her face. She really needed to eat. Her hand came to rest on the mushroom bulge in her jacket. So far she'd had no luck in finding any food.

"Not yet," she said determined with a shake of her head.

Not knowing if it was myth or not but she had heard that people can go weeks without eating and since she'd only been without food for a couple of days she was fine.

 _Hungry, hungry, hungry._

Well, she wasn't fine. She was hungrier than she'd ever been in her life but she wasn't dying.

The sun was high in the sky and Elle could clearly see it through a large break in the canopy, when she sat down on the bank of the stream for a rest.

 _Hungry, hungry, hungry._

Before she had even consciously thought about it, she had taken a few mushrooms out of her pocket and laid them in her lap. They looked innocuous, like an everyday edible mushroom you'd get at the supermarket.

 _Hungry! Hungry! Hungry!_

Almost as though she was in trance, Elle brought the largest mushroom to her mouth and before she knew it she'd eaten it. The mushroom had a mild flavour, typical of other mushrooms Elle had eaten. She couldn't control herself, she ate almost all of the mushrooms she had picked, saving only a few for later. While they did not banish her hunger, they did make it bearable.

Feeling a sliver of hope for the first time, Elle set off again following the stream to what seemed to be the edge of the forest. She had a slight spring to her step and even began to hum a simple tune. The sun was warm and there were birds singing, mimicking the tune that she was humming. Elle smiled, she never noticed the birds in the forest until now. They were so loud and joyous. Looking for them in the trees Elle was delighted when she found that they gave off such bursts of colour. Vibrant reds, greens, yellows, and blues. Elle couldn't contain her joy and stared to dance down the river.

It didn't cross Elle's mind that the little stream was now a raging river, she was far too happy. It made her wonder why the forest ever made her sad before. The forest was magical, a magnificent sight to behold.

Her exuberance was suddenly smothered as a loud and menacing roar rumbled through the trees. The colourful birds disappeared and the sun turned dull as Elle heard the thundering of hooves coming towards her through the tress.

Intense fear gripped at her very soul and she ran, her aching body be damned. Elle ran and ran, an echo of her sprint through the forest just days ago. She kept turning her head to look at her pursuer behind her, but she never caught a glimpse of it. All she heard was thundering hooves which seemed to multiply until she wasn't sure if they were real or imagined.

The cacophony of hooves suddenly stopped as Elle burst through the tree line at the edge of the forest. The forest gave way to an ocean of grass as far as the eye could see. She couldn't breathe a sigh of relief for one monster was replace by another. Before her stood a group of very large men. They wore helmets that covered heads of gold flaming hair.

Elle staggered to the side. The ocean of grass was moving beneath her, she needed to put her sea legs on.

The biggest flaming man began to approach her and Elle tried to back away.

Without warning the grassy ocean rushed up to meet her and the sun turned dark.

Elle experience a moment of clarity.

"The bloody mushrooms!" and Elle knew no more.

* * *

 **A/N - So let me know what you guys think so far!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Elle woke to comforting warmth. The bedding below her, while hard, felt like heaven. A cosy blanket was tucked in around her, keeping her safe from the monsters of the dark. Elle struggled to stay asleep, too comfortable to want to wake before her alarm went off. However, even in her sleep-dazed state she couldn't quite squash a niggling feeling in the back of her mind that something was wrong, very wrong. Perhaps it was the sound of a fire crackling away nearby that made her uneasy. Or the distinct smell of forest vegetation mixed with smoke from a wood fire that alluded to the fact that Elle was not in her own bed.

Like a flaming arrow through the night, Elle was hit with memories of the previous couple of days. As her memories flooded back, so too did the sharp pang of hunger gnawing at her stomach and the dull throbbing aches of the many injuries she had sustained. She shot upright letting the blanket fall to her waist allowing the crisp morning air to attack her upper body.

As she moved, three pairs of eyes simultaneously turned to her. Elle couldn't help but gasp, before her were three humanoid figures that looked so surreal she thought that she might still be tripping. They looked human but so decidedly not at the same time. They were tall, much taller than the average human and their skin was pale but not a sickly kind of pallor. Beautiful, by god they were beautiful, with their long golden hair, striking blue eyes, and perfectly chiselled features. However, the feature that drew Elle's eyes the most were the pointed ears that stuck out from underneath their golden tresses.

Elle was so engrossed in examining the mystical beings before her that she saw nothing else of her surroundings. She clutched at the blanket covering her legs, subconsciously using it as a safety blanket, as her wonder turned to unease. The entire time she had been examining the creatures before her they hadn't moved, not even to blink. They were as still as marble statues, watching her, examining her like she was them.

Her heart rate quickened as her eyes darted between the three unmoving creatures. Elle couldn't even see their chests rise and fall with every breath, were they even breathing? She was scared, these creatures were too unnatural. Wanting to run but too afraid to move Elle sat there watching and waiting. The only movement within the camp was the flickering of the flames from the fire.

Sapphire blue eyes bore into hers, watching her like a hawk, or a snake about to strike. Elle had never seen a creature like this in her life, maybe they had never seen a human before too. Maybe they were just as scared of her as she was of them.

The blanket was soft and warm within her clutched hands. They'd kept her warm and safe while she slept and from the state of her hands they'd even tended to some of her injuries. If they wanted to hurt her they could've done it by now.

Elle cleared her throat.

"Er, hello," she ventured, her voice cracking slightly from disuse.

As though a spell had been broken, the beings before her came to life. The creature closest to her replied in a tongue that sounded so unearthly beautiful that it took a moment for Elle to realise that she had no idea what was said.

"Uh sorry, I didn't catch that," Elle replied with a furrowed brow.

Her eyebrows shot skyward as she could have sworn a flash of annoyance flashed over his face, a very human emotion she noted. The creature made no attempt to converse with her again, presumably giving it up as a lost cause. The other two made no attempt either and turned away almost dismissively, like she was beneath them.

A low growl emanated from her stomach causing a light flush to creep up her face in embarrassment. The creature that had spoken to her moved towards the fire without a sound. Elle just stared, mouth hanging slightly open. It moved so fluidly, so graceful, without disturbing even a blade of grass. A shiver made its way from her head to her toes, movement like that was abnormal. She watched as it opened a small pot that had been sitting on the edge of the fire and started spooning its contents into a bowl.

Elle's mouth watered as she smelt the exotic aroma waft towards her on the breeze. Her stomach growled in eager anticipation of a substantial meal. The creature slowly approached her and handed her the bowl. Elle took the bowl and started gulping down the hot stew inside, giving no thought at all to what she was actually eating. After so long without something to eat, the stew tasted heavenly.

With a contented sigh, Elle set the empty bowl upon the ground next to her. She looked up at the creatures again and uttered a simple thanks. The one who gave her the food gave her a slight dip of their head in acknowledgment, probably guessing at what she had meant.

Elle glanced at the mystical beings again, they all seemed slightly annoyed and impatient. She didn't blame them, who knew what they were doing before she stumbled upon them and collapsed. It was in this examination of the creatures that Elle saw what escaped her notice before. Swords and knives casually hung from their belts while bows lay innocently propped up against packs. Weapons that seemed so natural within this scene. Elle gulped, hard. What type of people carried weapons around?

An unexplainable fear ignited within her as it all became too much. Elle leapt to her feet, the blanket falling to the floor along with any sense of safety she had previously harboured. They were watching her again, cautiously this time as though they were sensing her fear. Once more they seemed to turn to stone, unmoving, lifeless. Perhaps this was to show her that they were no threat but all it did was to reinforce how unnatural they were.

Elle took one step backwards, ignoring the blisters on her feet. Still no movement. She took another, larger, step backwards all the while her gaze was fixed on their weapons. Step after step and still they did not move. The longer they remained motionless, the faster Elle moved until she could take no more. She spun around, turning her back to the living statues, and ran.

She ran step after painful step until the fear that fuelled her sprint had given way to exhaustion. Her heavy strides slowed to a stop as she tried to catch her breath. As far as she could tell, the creatures had not even attempted to follow her which she was thankful for.

Elle's chest rose and fell with every deep breath she took, recovering from her latest sprint. If there's one thing that Elle knew about this place it was that she had never been so active in her life. Her body was unused to this extent of physical activity.

As she caught her breath Elle gazed around at her surroundings. She was standing on a lush green field of grass that stretched onward as far as she could see. Trees and shrubs were dotted here and there along with an abundance of rocks and boulders. From behind her she could see the great forest in the distance, even from this far away it looked menacing.

"Now what?" Elle whispered to herself.

She paused, almost hoping that someone would answer for her.

Those creatures back there were her only link to some sort of civilisation. Perhaps they could have taken her somewhere which would lead her to home. Elle turned to face the way she had come from. A shiver went down her spine as she thought back to the creatures.

"God no."

Elle couldn't bring herself to regret running from them and she wasn't desperate enough to go crawling back. They didn't seem to want anything to do with her anyway. She turned around again to the endless plains.

"Seems I have no choice," Elle decided as she set off at a moderate walk.

It was still morning with dew covering the ground, thankfully her leather boots were successful in keeping her feet dry. The sun was low in the sky over to her left, its rays holding little warmth. Elle took a deep breath, the air was cool, crisp, and clean. It was vastly different to the air she breathed in the city, it was almost rejuvenating. Looking behind her, Elle could see a trail of trampled grass clear against the untouched, dewy blades of grass alongside where she had walked.

Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours as Elle walked on autopilot. One step in front of the other and so on so forth. She didn't think, she just looked ahead at the unchanging scenery ahead of her and walked. The sun climbed higher in the sky bringing with it a growing heat which evaporated the dew upon the ground.

When the sun was peaking in the sky Elle sat down under a tree to rest with a sigh.

"Where the hell am I even going?" she moaned as she ran her hands through her hair.

As far as the scenery was concerned, Elle may as well have been walking on the same spot. The only evidence that she had moved in any direction was that the forest behind her was no longer visible. This was disorienting as Elle now had no way to mark the direction she was travelling.

She licked her dry lips.

"I need to find some water."

With a groan she stood up. Her muscles had cooled during her rest and now ached more than before. Mentally cursing through the pain Elle set off again in what she figured was the same direction.

As her legs and feet became sorer Elle figured she needed short-term goals. She walked from tree to boulder to the next tree that lay upon her path. Yet still there was no change in the scenery before her.

The sun was slowly making its way down toward the horizon when Elle came across a trail in the grass. It was unmistakable even to her untrained eye, the grass had been trampled. Someone had walked through the grass. Hope grew within her chest. If she could just catch up to whoever had passed this way then she might be able to go home.

Elle raised her head to glance around, trying to see if she could see them in the distance. The sun shone bright in her eyes from her left so she raised her hand to shield her face. There was no sign of anyway on the plains.

Something clicked in her brain and as fast as the hope had grown within her it vanished, leaving an empty hole of devastation. The afternoon sun was on her left. The morning sun had also been on her left. Elle looked from the sun to the trail on the ground.

"Fuck."

Somehow during the day she had been turned around, walking in a huge loop to eventually come across her trail from earlier.

Elle crouched down, disheartened. She brought her hand to her mouth slightly biting her knuckle so as not to scream. She'd been walking for hours for nothing. Her hands started to shake and tears began gather in her eyes. She ran a finger across her dry lips.

"I'm going to die out here," she whispered in distress.

She should have stayed with those creatures. They creeped her out but they did look after her, they might even have been able to get her home. A tear made its way down her cheek with regret coursing through her.

Not being able to take it anymore Elle screamed. She screamed in fear for her future, in anger at her own stupidity and ineptness, in regret over running from those creatures, and in rage over this whole predicament that she was in. Elle screamed until she was out of breath and could scream no more. She fell back, lying on her back and looking towards the sky. The long grass rose above her and to any observer it would have looked as though the ground had swallowed her whole.

"This is not happening," she whimpered.

 _Thirsty._

Elle started, it was back.

"I do need to find some water though," she agreed, feeling how parched she was.

Finding strength that she didn't know she had, Elle climbed to her feet. She set off once again carefully keeping the sun to her right.

Unlike before where she walked on autopilot, Elle's mind was buzzing with thoughts and ideas. She thought of anything that could explain this situation that she was in.

"There's no way I disappeared from my house to reappear in the middle of a forest. It's not scientifically possible. There's another explanation for this."

Elle listened to the crunching of the grass beneath her feet as she walked.

"I'm dreaming. This is one hell of a vivid nightmare. Or I could be in a coma," she reasoned as the rock she was aiming for came closer.

Checking the sun was still to her right, Elle picked a tree to aim for a couple of hundred metres ahead.

"James slipped something into my drink and I'm on one hell of a drug trip. I just have to wait it out until whatever it was wears off," Elle supposed.

Elle frowned.

"I've been here for days though, surely it would've worn off by now."

She pinched herself.

"Hmm, it feels real."

Silence as she approached her target tree. Elle ran her hand along the rough bark of the trunk as she passed by.

Sun still to the right, new target tree.

"Oh!" Elle gasped in realisation, "I'm dead. This is my own personal hell. Forced to trek the wilderness for eternity. I knew sleeping with Veronica's boyfriend would send me here. I really shouldn't have done that."

 _Thirsty._

Elle frowned again at hearing the thought.

"Or I'm currently experience a psychotic break from reality. None of this is real, it's a hallucination. I'm suffering from delusions. Either way, there's no way that I've legitimately been teleported to the wilderness."

As she walked it was becoming harder and harder to ignore her thirst and the deep-set exhaustion in her muscles. She could already feel her hunger starting to develop again.

The sun was sinking lower casting longer shadows upon the ground and Elle could already feel the temperature dropping. She resolved to walk until she couldn't see clearly in the dying light.

It didn't take too long for it to get too dark to continue on. Elle curled up underneath a tree and watching the sun sink the rest of the way below the horizon. After the sun had set the temperature began to plummet. Elle shivered and hugged her knees to her chest as she leant against the tree.

She was afraid. Having to sleep out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the clothes on her back was not something Elle had ever done. She had barely even gone camping and even then she had a tent, blankets, food, and electricity. What if there were predators out here that only came out at night? Elle shivered. She really hoped that there were no predators out here.

She watched as the sky came alive with millions of stars. Elle has lived near the city her whole life where there was so much light pollution that only the brightest stars were visible. It was amazing to her the amount of stars that the sky could hold. While beautiful, they were also unfamiliar. She was no astronomer but she couldn't see any familiar constellations.

Too tired from the amount of physical activity she had undertaken, Elle quickly fell asleep huddled against the tree.

* * *

Elle woke with the first light of dawn. She shivered, cold to the bone. Droplets of dew covered the landscape including her. They lay in small beads all over her, chilling her.

 _Thirsty._

Her throat was so dry she could barely swallow. Coupled with the hunger that had set in during the night and the cold, Elle was not in a good mood.

She waited for the sun to fully creep over the horizon before beginning to set off. The pain and exhaustion in her body was now normal and Elle just ignored it as best as she could, she had other things to worry about. Like finding water.

With the sun to her left, Elle trudged through the dewy grass in the same manner as the previous day. She wondered if she could somehow collect the dew to drink but she couldn't find a way to do so. Her pace was slower than the day before but she continued on.

Elle did not stop walking until well past midday. She did not know how far she had walked. All she knew was that she desperately needed something to drink. Stumbling towards a tree, she collapsed below its branches, resting her head on in her hands.

 _Thirsty._

Elle clenched her hands.

"I know! Shut up! I don't need you to tell me that I'm thirsty," Elle groused, her voice raspy.

 _Thirsty._

Elle grunted in annoyance and closed her eyes against the scenery before her. As she walked the landscape had changed very little, the trees seemed to be scarcer but the rest remained the same. She couldn't believe that she had walked so far without any sign of civilisation. It was as though any sign of human habitation of the planet had been eradicated.

While her eyes were closed she heard it, in the distance. The sound that had been carried upon the light breeze across the plains, the sound of rushing water. Elle's head snapped up, eyes wide and daring to hope. She strained her ears to listen. Water.

"I'm not hallucinating am I?" she breathed.

With a burst of energy, Elle started running in the direction of the water. As she ran the sound of running water became louder on the wind. She let out a cry of joy as her feet carried her over the plains.

It wasn't long before it came into view. A mighty river flowing south through the plains that bordered it on either side.

* * *

 **A/N: Let me know what you guys think! :)**


End file.
